Osama bin Laden’s last Will and Testament

Osama bin Laden’s last Will and Testament, which was first published in a Lebanese newspaper in 2001, has reappeared this week, which is not surprising. bin Laden supposedly wrote the will in 2001 after the September 11 attacks. U.S. intelligence sources are skeptical on its authenticity, despite it being cited in a recent Senate report.

In the will bin Laden compares himself to a seventh century caliph and suggests his children need to forge their own way in life rather than ride on the back of his name.

“As for you my children: Forgive me for not giving you except but a minimum amount of my time since I have begun my call for jihad,” bin Laden allegedly writes in the will. “And I advise you not to join in the work of al Qaeda.” bin Laden is reputably the father of 24 children with his four wives.

Rohan Gunaratna, author of Inside al Qaeda and head of the International Center for Political Violence and Terrorism Research, is convinced the document is genuine however. ‘I have no doubt this document is real,’ he told ABC News. Gunaratna also claimed the signature at the bottom of the document was that of bin Laden’s.

For Michael Scheuer, a veteran CIA agent, who headed the secretive bin Laden Issue Station, and was later the chief of the bin Laden Unit, the will is a fraud. “It’s a Saudi fabrication and it’s been around for years,” Scheuer told ABC News.